[Advaita-l] How many margas for mukti

[Kripa Shankar]

‎Namaste,

Delighted to be part of the group. I have many doubts regarding Advaita not because I couldn't comprehend the philosophy taught by Adi Shankaracharya but because there are apparent contradictions in the current practice. Because of whatever dosha, there is ignorance in abundance in the form of samshaya. Hence my query. 

I had the fortune of studying the siddhanta in detail from a relatively old book called samyagdarshana (in Kannada lang). In it, there was an introduction by an eminent author Narasimha Sharma. He was a courtesan of the Mysore Maharaja and was associated with Sringeri Mutt. He writes that there are only two margas to mukti, one is jnana and the other is Karma. There is not a third one. Even Krishna says - Lokesmin Dvividha Nishta pura prokta mayanagha, jnana yogena sankhyanam karma yogena yoginam.

But we have a third one which is quite popular these days and supposedly the easiest route! It is called the bhakti marga. Neither Shankara nor any other scriptures mention this. ‎What entails bhakti marga? Is it listening to carnatic (or hindustani) music on YouTube or anything more? What is the means and end goal of this marga? Or is it another departure from the tradition? Is it again, viewed as a Renaissance against the Vedic hierarchy? If it is, do you see it as an assault against the Vedas? Because bhakti marga emphasises more on regional language and Sanskrit is mostly neglected. 

Regards 
Kripa

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Vyasaya Vishnu roopaya Vyasa roopaya Vishnave
Namo vai Brahma nidhaye Vasishtaya namo namaha